Pathetic Fuel Economy Standards May Get A Modest Boost

Faced with something of a circumstantial trifecta - - high gas prices, falling SUV sales and political realities conceded by both parties - - Detroit's floundering automakers are warming up to making slightly more efficient engines.

Something they had said repeatedly would absolutely ruin their sales, which, with the cooperation of pliable politicians and able lobbyists, has provided consumers with inefficient, less-appealing cars for many years.

US fuel economy standards set by the federal government hasn't been upgraded since 1983.

Think of all the wasted gasoline, and with market share disappearing to foreign companies, the missed sales and lost technological advancement for and by what's left of the Big Three.